Financially troubled juvenile center looks to separate from state

As the Lafourche Parish juvenile detention center approaches its 30th anniversary, it’s faced with a daunting challenge. Receiving less money from the state, the center, at 2525 Veterans Blvd., Thibodaux, is considering localizing its services and asking taxpayers for more money. The center provides emergency shelter, secure detention and a group home for children who are homeless, abused or have psychological disorders.As a criminal detention center and treatment facility, it has lost half of its state revenue because it doesn’t fit any of the models that Magellan — the private insurance company the state has partnered with — has envisioned, its director, Bob Licalzi, said.Magellan officials told Licalzi the center doesn’t provide enough intense medical services as required under the state’s 2010 consolidation of such programs. The facility, which accepts children from around the state, would have to hire a psychiatrist or dentist, which it can’t afford, Licalzi said.To become a Lafourche-only child residential center, Licalzi estimates it would need a 5-6 mill property tax increase. A mill is $1 in tax levied on every $1,000 of taxable property. That money would help provide outpatient services throughout the rest of the parish and expand the facility’s services. “The only way we can get the community on our side is by demonstrating that we are an invaluable service and one that is worthy of that kind of political consideration,” he said. More importantly, it would make the center independent from the state. “We recognize that it would be difficult to increase taxes. ... This changeover so solidified the insanity of being dependent on a bureaucracy that no more cares about you or your kids than the man in the moon. It’s hard for me to see how decisions made in Baton Rouge, across a number of spectrums, have benefitted this community,” Licalzi said.The center is supported through a 3.2-mill property tax, bringing in about $2.4 million each year. The state provides an additional $435,000. Prior to consolidation, the center received more than $1 million in state aid. Spending about $3 million each year, the center has had to dig into its savings to get by. Without future program cuts, the reserves will be depleted by June 2015, Licalzi said. The 37-bed facility is broken up into three units: a 10-bed detention center, a 15-bed boys unit and a 12-bed girls unit. In 2012, the center was prepared to cut one of the units and consolidate the boys and girls living quarters before the state agreed to continue sending it money. Ten years ago the center asked the public for an increase in the tax rate but was denied. The public believed the center served too many out-of-parish children and not enough locals, Licalzi said.Many children outside of the parish are being sent to the Lafourche facility as a result of fewer centers across the state, but the state is making an effort to lower that number. The U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice tracks which states have the highest juvenile confinement rates, meaning which states jail the largest percent of their population of children and teens.From 2001 to 2010, Louisiana went from being third on that list to 19th, lowering its state incarceration rate from 505 kids for every 100,000 to 239 kids for every 100,000, the agency said.Arrests were cut in half during this time, with more than 37,000 kids arrested in 2001 to more than 16,000 arrested in 2010.However, the centers haven’t seen a decrease in children and attempts to keep them out of the center can also hurt, Licalzi said. The center gets $126 per resident per day, though Magellan has cut that from $135 per day under consolidation. --Staff Writer Jacob Batte can be reached at 448-7635 or jacob.batte@dailycomet.com. Follow him on Twitter @ja_batte.